A wiper device for ensuring a field of view of a driver and the like is provided with in a vehicle such as an automobile. The wiper device includes a wiper arm caused to swing by an electric motor, and a wiper blade fitted to the wiper arm. By turning on a wiper switch in a vehicle interior, the wiper arm is caused to swing, whereby a blade rubber reciprocates on a surface to be wiped so as to wipe off rainwater or the like attached onto the surface to be wiped.
Now, in a case where an adhesive substance such as dust is attached onto the surface to be wiped, the wiper blade is reciprocated while spraying a cleaning fluid on the surface to be wiped. This makes it possible to wet the adhesive substance such as dust and cleanly wipe the surface to be wiped without damaging the surface to be wiped. The cleaning fluid is usually sprayed onto the surface to be wiped from a nozzle unit installed in a hood or the like of the vehicle. In this case, there are defects including a case where the field of view of the driver is blocked because a sprayed position of the cleaning fluid is in front of eyes of the driver, a case where the sprayed position of the cleaning fluid is largely displaced due to a travelling wind or the like because a distance between the nozzle unit and the surface to be wiped is too long, and a case where a replenishing frequency of the cleaning fluid to a tank is increased because a relatively large amount of the cleaning fluid is used.
Thus, in order to solve such defects, a wiper device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-030373 has been developed, for example. The wiper device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-030373 includes: an arm support (arm head) fixed to a swinging shaft (output shaft); an arm shank rotatably coupled to the arm support; a washer nozzle (nozzle unit) provided at a tip end side of the arm shank; and a flexible hose (pipe) provided between a portion of the washer nozzle and a portion of the swinging shaft. Further, a swinging shaft side of the flexible hose is disposed around the swinging shaft so as not to come into contact with the swinging shaft and not to protrude from the arm support.
A cleaning fluid supplied to the flexible hose is sprayed from the washer nozzle and immediately reaches a surface to be wiped that is near the washer nozzle. Thus, a distance between the washer nozzle and the surface to be wiped is shortened, whereby it is possible to prevent a sprayed position of the cleaning fluid from being largely displaced due to a travelling wind or the like, and to wet the vicinity of a blade rubber. Therefore, it is possible to wipe the surface to be wiped using a small amount of the cleaning fluid.
Further, in order to solve the problems as described above, a wiper device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,370 has been developed, for example. The wiper device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,370 includes: an attachment piece fixed to a wiper shaft; a joint piece rotatably fitted to the attachment piece; a wiper rod crimped and fixed to the joint piece; a washer nozzle fixed to the wiper rod; and a flexible hose housed inside the joint piece.
A cleaning fluid that has been supplied from the wiper shaft to the flexible hose is sprayed from the washer nozzle and reaches a surface to be wiped. Thus, a distance between the washer nozzle and the surface to be wiped is shortened, whereby it is possible to prevent a sprayed position of the cleaning fluid from being largely displaced due to a travelling wind or the like, and to wet the vicinity of a blade rubber. Therefore, it is possible to wipe the surface to be wiped using a small amount of the cleaning fluid.